AT&T Extends Customer Wait For New Phone
NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - AT&T is extending the time it takes for customers on contract-based plans to earn a fully subsidized upgrade to a new phone, from 20 months to 24 months.
The move announced Sunday follows an identical one by Verizon Wireless in April. Dallas-based AT&T's new policy applies to any customer whose contract expires in March 2014 or later.
Extending the time between phone upgrades saves the phone companies money, since they subsidize each new phone by hundreds of dollars to make it available to customers for $199 or less.
The change reflects the growing popularity of expensive phones. Verizon subsidized upgrades after just 13 months until January 2011, just before it introduced the iPhone, one of the most expensive phones on a wholesale basis. Carriers pay Apple over $600 for it.
(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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